In the spirit of starting anew, I have decided to set a few monthly goals in the form of a post. Fingers crossed it will serve as the motivational nudge I desperately need to stay focused throughout the next 30-ish days. It may be perfectly disastrous, or a complete success! In any case, it’s always better to write things down n’est-ce pas! August goals.
1. Career
At the end of this month, I will have been out of work for a year. As much as I’ve enjoyed flouncing around, living off of my savings, I really need to buckle down and find a way to finance myself. Saying this, it’s not as if I haven’t tried…I have, albeit not rigorously enough clearly. It just gets a tad discouraging when you receive those dreaded “…we received a great number of applications and decided to go with a more suitable candidate…” emails one after the other. Not to mention the good intentioned people asking what you do all day, and inquiring subtly about how you’re affording your life. But hey, it’s the only certain thing one can expect when undertaking such a feat.
One encouraging thing I have started doing, for the sake of my sanity and ego (mostly ego), is to write down in my notebook the numbers 1 to 100. Every time I apply for a position, I tick off a number. By telling myself I only need one in a hundred applications to succeed, I feel much less disheartened about the ninety-nine who don’t. So far, it’s working quite well. Aaliyah’s Try Again is basically my anthem in this regard!
2. Blog
When it comes to the blog, my goal is much less melodramatic. I would like to write one post for each category, one a week give or take before the end of the month. It may seem a little scarce in the grand scheme of things, but I want to approach the ideal of consistent content in a way that is both comfortable and manageable. I hope this will also give me a better idea of which day I would like to dedicate myself to writing etc etc. August goals.
3. Poetry
I have always felt a little bland for not being able to count myself among those who can recite poems from memory. Granted, I can’t say I’ve ever been overly enthralled with classic poetry, but I am starting to enjoy certain pieces. This month, I am challenging myself to learn Baudelaire’s Correspondance.
I first came across it whilst strolling through the Musée d’Orsay, wide-eyed and mouth opened. It was written on the entrance wall of the utterly spectacular exposition Au-delà des étoiles. Le Paysage mystique de Monet à Kandinsky, in which the relation between man and nature is examined. Blame it on the context, but it really gave me the itch to learn it!
4. Reading
This mission is probably shared by most. Personally, I seem to have fallen from grace in this respect. Last year, I really took advantage of the fact I could choose what books I wanted to read having finished uni and all. I can’t say I’ve ever read so much and actually enjoyed it! Of course, it did make it easy, having a solid hour and a half of commute every day, to and from work (shoutout to the TTC for always making sure my journey took longer than expected). August goals.
Since being in Berlin, however, not knowing the language nor having a job, I feel as if leisure reading is no longer a priority. My thought process is completely backwards but bear with me. I feel as though if I have time to read, I would be better off reading a German exercise book or job offers. The stupidest excuses ever I know, especially since I don’t seem to have any issues or guilty feelings when watching a movie in the evenings…In a nutshell, reading is a habit I desperately want to have again.
5. Running
A couple of weeks ago, God knows why I decided to start jogging in the park. Anyone who knows me knows what a big deal this is, seeing as I would have never even run to catch the bus. To date, I have been on three runs, around 5,5 km each with a couple of stops in between. I would like to be able to run the entire 7-ish km route without stopping.
Why the sudden change of heart?
Well, when nothing else seems to be going to plan (going back to the first point) it’s comforting to find that sense of accomplishment at the end of the trail. You can still go to sleep thinking I managed something today. Not to mention how nice it is, when you’re overthinking everything at the speed of light, to find an activity that physically matches that mental exhaustion. All this said I am thoroughly looking forward to lacing up my trainers!
That just about rounds it up for now. I will do an update next month explaining how I got on. Until then, hope you are all having a great start to August! August goals.
One response to “August Goals – In Need of Some Motivation”
[…] come and gone since I set myself those five seemingly reasonable goals. If you fancy a read, click here. This being said, I of course only managed half of them…sort of. Classic. As much as I would […]